Camrose Public Transit

Thank you very much to Lori Larsen from the Camrose Booster for her article, "Public feedback on City Transit Survey" which sums up our findings from this project. Click here to view the article online.

Public Feedback on City Transit Survey

By Lori Larsen, Camrose Booster

City of Camrose Infrastructure general manager Kris Johnson and Engineering Office assistant Kirsten Freeborn presented the results of a 2021 Public Transit survey to City Council during the March 22 Committee of Whole meeting.

During the time of the survey and currently, the City of Camrose transit system consists of Camrose Community Bus (contracted to Rose City Handi-Van Society), taxi tokens and Handi-Van services.

“The Community Bus service is a City-owned bus with an annual lease to the Handi-Van Society,” explained Johnson, adding that the major maintenance is handled by the City.

“The City received a major donation toward a new bus in 2021,” said Johnson.

Ridership for the Community Bus, pre-COVID, consisted of 180 riders per week, declining to 80 riders per week for both 2020 and 2021.

According to Freeborn, current ridership stats indicate an increase to 100 riders per week.

The Community Bus hourly service operates from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., four days per week, with a combination of 22 scheduled and on-demand stops.

Johnson explained the Taxi Tokens program is a City subsidized transit initiative allowing for a $4 discount on taxi or Handi-Van services within Camrose.

“The tokens are given to 27 local agencies to distribute to their clients, with Camrose Transit Advisory Committee reviewing and approving applications.”

Johnson added that one risk with this program is that Taxi Tokens may be lost and hoarded.

According to statistics provided in the report, $80,000 was budgeted for the Token program in 2021, with 15,229 tokens picked up at a value of $60,916.

The Handi-Van service is a specialized form of transportation offered to people with disability who cannot use typical transportation, and is an individual, door-to door service.

The Handi-Van Society is funded through multiple streams (grants, donations, user fees) and the City contributes annual operational and capital grants.

Freeborn went over the results of the 2021 survey, which ran from mid-July to mid-September 2021, receiving 113 responses (69 electronically and 44 on paper).

The demographics of the respondents ranged from age 19 to over 70, with the bulk of responses between ages 41 to 70. Of the responses, 51 per cent indicated they own a vehicle, eight per cent said they have access to a vehicle, and 41 per cent said they do not own or have access to a vehicle.

When asked if they currently utilize the Community Bus, 61 per cent said “no” and 39 per cent said “yes”. When further asked what prevented the respondents from using the Community Bus, 28 per cent replied that it does not serve their area, 25 per cent indicated the times were not convenient, and 47 per cent indicated there was no need at this time.

Freeborn reported that the areas where respondents felt the Community Bus could improve, for the most part, indicated there were not enough stops and more buses were needed.

When asked what the respondents would like to use the Community Bus for, the majority of responses were for medical appointments, grocery shopping and shopping downtown. Other responses included going to work or school and other such as attending community events and visiting friends and family.

Respondents indicated the times that would best suit them were 6 until 9 a.m. (currently not served by the Community Bus), 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. (currently served by Community Bus), and 6 until 8 p.m. (currently not served by Community Bus).

When asked where respondents would like to see the Community Bus stop, the most frequent responses were: north of the tracks, west end shopping (currently served), more downtown stops, Camrose Public Library, recreation centre (currently served), industrial area, casino and more residential areas.

The majority of respondents (59 per cent) felt the length of the bus route should be 30 minutes, with 33 per cent saying one hour, and eight per cent saying more than one hour.

Generally, the respondents indicated they would walk one to three blocks to catch the bus. Responses were consistent with how they would like to see Camrose Public transit grow including: more bus routes, more days per week, more hours per day, and implementing monthly passes.

With regards to the Taxi Tokens program, 75 per cent of respondents indicated they do not use the program, and 25 per cent saying they do use the program.

In a general question about what type of transit respondents would like to see the City of Camrose implement, the responses included: another bus and route, out-of-town transit (to Edmonton and area, or Calgary), full bus system (to include multiple buses and routes every day).

The survey asked if the City of Camrose should investigate an on-demand transit service, to which 68per cent responded “yes” and 32 per cent responded “no”.

Councillor David Francoeur inquired as to whether or not there would be consideration given to acquiring another bus.

Freeborn said the new bus arrived in November 2021 and the City sold the one they were using in 2021. “At this time, we only have the one bus in our fleet.”

Francoeur asked if the City considered keeping and using the old bus on the north side, or making routes every 30 minutes instead of every hour.

Johnson replied that the condition of the old bus was assessed and that salvaging it was the best option. He added that the City would look into acquiring another bus in the future, if required.

Councillor Agnes Hoveland asked how the on-demand service differed from using the Handi-van or Taxi Tokens.

Johnson explained that a taxi or Handi-van service works on the premise of picking up and taking to a destination, then being available for another user versus the on-demand, which would be a bus service that picks up a multitude of riders who have requested specific pick-up times and locations as well as users along the route, “More of a group taxi.”

He further explained that the bus driver would be aware of what users there are and what times they were being picked up, so the driver would change the route or direction to accommodate the on-demand users. “It is a lot more flexible and would be a bus-type of scenario, not a single-user service, like a taxi.”

Hoveland asked if that would take longer.

Johnson replied that it could, and that it would be part of that service.

Freeborn spoke about other communities in Alberta that are using the on-demand bus service.

“Each municipality has made it unique to their own. Some only use it as an off-hours to their fixed route. Some, like Cochrane, do not have a fixed route at all anymore, so all their buses are on demand. Edmonton uses their on-demand in underserved areas. It would be determining what is best for Camrose.”

Councillor DJ Ilg inquired about the cost of adding a new bus to the fleet, and what the approximate delivery times would be on a new bus.

Freeborn responded approximately $150,000 to $160,000 for the cost, and that the new bus the City acquired last year was ordered in July and arrived in November.

Francoeur asked if there are grants from either the provincial or federal governments that could be utilized for the purchase of a new bus and possible operational costs.

Freeborn said that currently there are no provincial grants, but there are a few federal grants that administration is investigating.

City of Camrose Financial Services general manager Travis Bouck advised council that any changes to service levels, such as adding new routes or purchasing a new bus, would be something council should bring up during the budget planning process.

Councillor Joy-Anne Murphy inquired about the financial impact of Taxi Tokens that are possibly being lost or hoarded.

Bouck said, “Since the inception of the program, we have been expensing the tokens when they are turned in based upon the assumption that the services have been provided at that time. As such, there is a risk to the City that someone could be hoarding a number of tokens and when they are turned in, the City would record an expense in excess of budgeted amounts.”

He cautioned council that often in trying to improve a program, the City tends to incur additional administrative hours to manage the “better” system. “We are trying to balance cost benefit from the perspective of we are trying to provide this service to the public at a very low cost without having to add additional staff. This is the best solution we have come up with.”

Bouck did suggest that the City could consider tokens that would expire at the end of June every few years and replace with a new kind of token causing the older ones to expire to lower the risk of loss, but reiterated his concern that too many more controls for something that is a relatively low cost and material risk to the City could end up costing more in the long run.

Council accepted the report as information and requested more information with regards to an on-demand service, more frequent service, service to the north side and any possible grants that may be available.